fracidus

Forms

fracidus (feminine fracida, neuter fracidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fracēs (“dregs of oil”) + -idus.^[2][3] Wiktionary connects it rather with the verb fraceō (“to be rotten”).^[1] De Vaan traces fracēs to Proto-Italic *frak-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cato's book on farming, of olives left on the floor of the loft until they are soft and pulpy.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is used of over-ripe fruit,^[2] and the veterinary writer Pelagonius applies it to a dog's head, of meat gone soft.^[3][5] In Medieval Latin it meant rotten or brittle and appears in a place name, Petra fracida, in imperial charters.^[7] Neo-Latin writers used it of decayed bones and cloth.^[8] The Italian word fradicio (“soaked, rotten”) continues it.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of olives that have grown soft.^[2][10]
• 360 AD – Pelagonius uses it in his veterinary treatise.^[3][5][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of fruit) Soft, pulpy, over-ripe.^[2][6]
2. Rotten, putrid.^[5][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) Rotten, brittle.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
9. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de